Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/488818
Cofounder and CEO of San Rafael, Calif.'s Equator Coffees & Teas, Helen Russell has dedicated her life to promoting sustainability through her company both domestically and abroad. Equator is deeply engaged with women's empowerment initiatives, and has been certified as a B Corporation. Kenneth R. Olson: To get started, can you tell us a little about your family background and your family now? Helen Russell: I came from World War II–generation parents, grow- ing up in a suburb outside of Boston where my Irish ancestors landed two generations ago. My parents' idea of the height of luxury was instant, dissolvable coffee crystals in a cup. My parents both worked 35 long years, giving our family a very good middle-class life. Their example is where I learned the value of hard work and the right of every worker to have health insurance. The San Francisco Business Times once asked me, "What was is your favorite status symbol?" I was a bit taken aback and responded, "One hundred percent health coverage for all our employees." My family [now] consists of our 80 employees and my partner and cofounder Brooke McDonnell. Without Brooke's amazing palate and gift for sourcing, procuring, and roasting a distinctive product, we would not be where we are today. KRO: You graduated from Northeastern University in Boston with a degree in business administration. Did you have any idea that you would end up in coffee? What brought you to it? HR: I worked as a bartender to put myself through college, and I was the first person in my family to earn a college degree. When I grad- uated from college, I was selling voice and data networks for MCI in Boston, and selling a fiber-optics product you could not taste or see was lucrative but boring. Our inspiration for starting our first coffee company came about when Brooke and I were flipping houses in Portland, Ore. Every morn- ing, Brooke and I would have coffee at Starbucks in Pioneer Square— this was 1991. I remember thinking that San Francisco was missing the coffee culture that was clearly taking root in the Northwest. I recall saying [to Brooke], "I love business. You love coffee. Let's write a business plan and start a coffee company." On the drive back to the Bay Area, Brooke talked about coffee. I took notes, which later became a blueprint for a business plan to open two mobile coffee bars (Europa Espresso). When we started [Equator] in 1995 out of a garage, we were working with a 2.5-kilo tabletop Petroncini roaster that Brooke bought by sell- ing her mother's diamond wedding ring. At that time, there were only five women roasting coffee in the U.S.A., and Brooke was one of them. Coffee afforded me the opportunity to engage with communities. I loved the challenge of understanding coffee, and growing this business while dealing with an agricultural product has been fascinating. I am also a very sociable person, and coffee brings with it a great host of people involved in getting it from farm to table. I embrace every aspect of it. I love challenging myself by accepting new responsibilities like becoming the co-owner of a coffee farm. Owning Finca Sophia and being involved in an unplanted farm seven years ago has been an edu- cation in itself. The challenges are to understand what economic impact means at both ends of the supply chain. We're working on health care for us here, and we need to understand that our producers need it at origin. I love building a business, and coffee is my passion in part because you can make such a significant impact all along the supply chain. My dream has always been to be in an impactful environment—doing 100 barista magazine